Gentlemen v Players

Gentlemen v Players was a first-class cricket match between teams consisting of amateurs (the Gentlemen) and professionals (the Players). The difference between the two was defined by English class structure in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Players were deemed to be working-class wage-earners and the Gentlemen were members of the middle and upper classes, usually products of the English public school system. Whereas the Players were paid wages by their county clubs or fees by match organisers, the Gentlemen nominally claimed expenses. The whole subject of expenses was controversial and it was held that some leading amateurs were paid more for playing cricket than any professional.

The inaugural fixture took place in 1806, with a return match the same year, but it was not continued in 1807 and, with cricket in decline during the Napoleonic Wars, it was not revived until 1819. Thereafter, it was played on a generally annual basis until 1962, with usually two or more games each season. It lacked repute in the middle years of the 19th century because the Gentlemen were often outclassed but then gained in prestige during the career of W. G. Grace as the matches became highly competitive. The advent of Test cricket coupled with social change in the 20th century saw its importance decline, especially in the aftermath of the Second World War.

On 31 January 1963, the committee of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) agreed unanimously to abolish the concept of amateurism and all first-class cricketers became professional. The Gentlemen v Players fixture was by then viewed as an anachronism and was discontinued. A substitute fixture was sought but never instituted as the limited overs Gillette Cup competition began in 1963. A total of 274 Gentlemen v Players matches were played from 1806 to 1962. The Players won 125 and the Gentlemen 68. There were 80 draws and one tie.

At its height from the 1860s until 1914, the fixture was a prestigious one, though in terms of quality it fell far short of Test matches and even of the rival North v. South fixture. Until the 1860s, the Gentlemen teams were often very weak compared with the professionals, and on occasion the fixture had to be arranged on an odds basis, so that the Players eleven took on a greater number of Gentlemen. The Gentlemen famously became competitive during the career of W. G. Grace, whose performances were so outstanding that the Gentlemen could enjoy some long-awaited success. The fixture often confirmed the commonly held view of an imbalance between amateur and professional in that amateurs tended to be batsmen first and foremost, hence there were few good amateur bowlers. The Players could nearly always field a strong bowling side.

The game was played over three days on all but a handful of occasions throughout its history. The most frequent venue for the match was Lord's, but a number of other grounds were used, notably The Oval and Scarborough, and it was at Scarborough that the last Gentlemen v Players game was played, in September 1962.

The same format of amateurs playing professionals was used in a number of other fixtures, some of which were given first-class status (for example, "Gentlemen of Nottinghamshire v Players of Nottinghamshire"), but these matches became less common after the beginning of the 20th century, and the last such game was "Gentlemen of the South v Players of the South" in 1920, after which all first-class Gentlemen v Players matches were between teams known simply by those names.

The Gentlemen v Players series ended after the 1962 season, when the distinction between amateur and professional players was abolished. Charles Williams has described several reports on the subject which were submitted to MCC by its Amateur Status Standing Committee (ASSC) and, on 31 January 1963, the MCC committee unanimously agreed to abolish amateurism. Williams says a substitute fixture was sought but it was decided not to pursue this as the new Gillette Cup limited overs competition was beginning in 1963.

There were contrasting views about the end of amateurism and the passing of Gentlemen v Players. Some traditionalists like E. W. Swanton and the editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack "lamented the passing of an era" but social change had rendered the whole concept an anachronism and Fred Trueman spoke for many when he summarised amateurism as a "ludicrous business" that was "thankfully abolished" after the 1962 season.[1]

The inaugural fixture was a three day match at the original Lord's ground from 7 to 9 July 1806. It was soon followed by the second, held on the same ground from 21 to 25 July. In the first match, the Gentlemen played with two "given men" and these were the two outstanding professionals of the day, Billy Beldham and William Lambert. Lambert made a significant contribution with the bat and the Gentlemen won by an innings and 14 runs. For the return, the Gentlemen retained Lambert. Beldham played for the Players. The Gentlemen won a low-scoring game by 82 runs and Lambert was again a significant factor, although the leading amateur Lord Frederick Beauclerk made two good scores. A curiosity of these matches is that they featured the veteran professional Tom Walker and the rookie amateur John Willes. These are the two players both credited with devising the roundarm style of bowling, but there is no evidence to suggest they used roundarm in 1806.

Described by H. S. Altham as the "most famous of all domestic matches", the fixture disappeared until 1819. Altham says he does not know why but the Napoleonic Wars must have been a factor as cricket was in decline from 1810 until after Waterloo in 1815. In 1819, the amateurs agreed to play the professionals on equal terms but lost by six wickets. There was only one run between the sides on first innings but the Gentlemen collapsed in the second against the bowling of Tom Howard and John Sherman to be all out for only 60. This match was held at the "new" Lord's ground, the present one, which had opened in 1814. The fourth match was played at Lord's in June 1820 and the Gentlemen, now with star bowler Howard as a given man, won by 70 runs.

The fifth match earned notoriety. It was scheduled to be played at Lord's from 23 to 25 July 1821 but ended on the second day after the Gentlemen conceded. Known as the "Coronation Match" because it celebrated the accession of the unpopular George IV, it was described by Derek Birley as "a suitably murky affair". The Gentlemen had batted first and were quickly dismissed for 60. Then they had to spend a long time in the field through most of the first and second days while the Players steadily built a big lead. At 270 for six, the Gentlemen decided to "give up" and the match ended.

After this, the fixture struggled for many years to regain credibility. In twelve of the fourteen matches played from 1824 to 1837, the Players were handicapped, usually by the Gentlemen having extra men. In one match the Gentlemen had eighteen and in two more seventeen. In 1832, the Gentlemen defended a smaller-than-normal wicket of 22 by 6 inches and in 1837, in what became known as the "Barn Door Match", the Players defended an outsize wicket of four stumps measuring 36 by 12 inches.

The tide turned somewhat in the 1840s when Alfred Mynn and Nicholas Felix were playing for the amateurs. In nine equal terms matches from 1842 to 1849, the Gentlemen won six against two for the Players and one drawn. That run of success ended and, apart from a solitary victory in 1853 and one draw in 1862, the Gentlemen lost every one of the next 25 games up to July 1865.

According to Harry Altham, the period from about 1860 into the 1880s were the "halcyon days of amateur cricket". This refers in part to the success of cricketers who came through the public schools and universities in the period but in the main to the achievements of Gentlemen teams who won 27 matches against the Players whilst losing only five. The key figure in this remarkable turnaround was W. G. Grace. Altham says that "the pendulum of power" had swung in the amateur direction and "never again was it found pointing so unequivocally to (amateur supremacy)".

In all 274 matches were played. The Gentlemen won 68 and the Players 125. 80 matches were drawn and the first match of 1883 ended in a tie. The results of all the matches may be found in List of Gentlemen v Players matches.